From Counterculture to Capitalism

Rick Doblin’s visit to HBS and the future of psychedelics.

“The message is that intellectual education is only one form of education. HBS and other Harvard students would benefit from education about their emotional, spiritual, and moral development, which psychedelics can facilitate when taken in supportive contexts.” 

—Dr. Rick Doblin

On Feb 11, nearly six years after his last appearance on campus, Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), made a long-overdue return to HBS, fittingly drawing a multidisciplinary audience from across Harvard’s graduate schools and beyond, including CJ LoConte and Nathalie Timchenko of HKS’s Mental Health and Drug Policy Caucus, who helped lead the production of the event. Moderated by HLS professor Glenn Cohen, the event explored the evolving intersection of business, policy, science, ethics, and spirituality in the world of psychedelics — a newly-resurgent field once relegated to the cultural margins after the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 made most psychedelics and marijuana federally illegal as Schedule I substances, with “high abuse potential with no accepted medical use.”

Doblin’s presence marked a rare opportunity to hear from one of the most influential figures in a reignited movement working to prove that these substances, which have been used for healing and spiritual practice by various societies globally for thousands of years, are anything but what the above scheduling claims. Founded by Doblin in 1986, MAPS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and educational organization that has spent nearly four decades advocating for the therapeutic use of psychedelics and marijuana, particularly MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Through MAPS, Doblin has raised over $150 million in philanthropic funding, steered FDA-regulated clinical trials, and helped shift scientific and public opinion toward embracing psychedelics and marijuana as legitimate tools for healing. As Doblin put it, “a lot of what we've been trying to do is change cultural attitudes towards psychedelics, towards psychedelic research.” And as Doblin went on to explain, he sees cultural attitudes changing in many ways as a result of advances in psychedelic research.

Doblin’s career trajectory — from an 18-year-old draft resister experimenting with LSD to an HKS PhD and global advocate — set the tone for a discussion that was as much about cultural and psychological transformation as it was about regulatory hurdles, clinical data, or commercial applications. “The arc of my life has been from counterculture to culture, from criminal to legal,” Doblin told the audience. 

And given the changing legal landscape, the movement Doblin is leading isn’t small by any means or slowing down anytime soon. Doblin pointed out in his presentation that approximately $4 billion has been invested in public and private psychedelic companies since 2020. He also highlighted that $300 million has been donated to psychedelic non-profits since 1986 (from the likes of Tim Ferriss and TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie), which has included the $16 million given by Antonio Gracias for the Harvard Study of Psychedelics in Society and Culture.

In an era of escalating mental health crises, deepening social isolation, and growing political polarization, the conversation returned to a central question: can psychedelics help society reestablish connection, not only with one another, but also with a deeper sense of purpose and humanity? And what role can and should public and private institutions play? 

Beyond the Substance: Therapy, Science, and Ethics

One of the most nuanced aspects of psychedelic medicine is that it often blurs the line between drug and therapy. Unlike SSRIs or other psychiatric medications, which are typically taken daily to manage symptoms, psychedelic-assisted therapy is designed to catalyze breakthroughs in just a few sessions.

“The goal of psychedelic therapy,” Doblin explained during the event, “is to get to the root cause of the problem, not to treat the symptoms. It’s therapy-enhanced by the drug — not drug therapy alone.”

That model, however, is harder to scale in traditional ways. “The pharma industry doesn’t make money on therapy, just on the drug,” Doblin added. “That’s why esketamine, for example, was brought to market by Johnson & Johnson without therapy. The results fade fast, but patients have to keep coming back.”

MAPS’s model is more ambitious and nuanced: a structured protocol of three MDMA sessions, each paired with preparatory and integrative talk therapy, aiming to deliver long-lasting transformation, not just symptom reduction. Early studies suggest this model may significantly outperform conventional treatments for PTSD.

While the event spotlighted the promise of psychedelic therapy and the MAPS model, it also confronted some more difficult realities—especially those tied to MAPS’ recent regulatory challenges. Doblin recounted the uphill battle MAPS faced in securing FDA approval for its trials. Despite two successful Phase 3 studies showing that MDMA-assisted therapy led to significant reductions in PTSD symptoms — so much so that many participants no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD — the FDA ultimately rejected MAPS’s New Drug Application.

Moderator Prof. Cohen posed a series of probing questions on the FDA’s concerns about the Lykos submission, including “functional unblinding” (the difficulty in masking whether participants received a psychedelic), limited diversity among trial participants, and the handling of adverse events and sexual misconduct allegations during trials.

Doblin acknowledged these issues, framing them as both learning opportunities and growing pains. On unblinding, he explained, “We did 16 years of pilot studies around the world… and what we discovered was that I was partially right and partially wrong. We could cause some confusion between doses… there was no sweet spot that preserved blinding while also maximizing therapeutic benefit.” He added that MAPS had worked closely with the FDA on study design, and that the agency itself had approved a control group using inactive placebo, so indeed it was, as Rick pointed out, “the FDA itself [that] chose that design.”

On the inclusion of different populations, Doblin admitted there is more work to do, but did highlight working to include professional communities beyond veterans who suffer from trauma: “we did a study in veterans, firefighters and police officers…we didn't think we'd get any police officers, but we wanted to say that it's for police officers, so that it's clear that it's trying to help everybody. And we eventually did get police officers.” He went on to reaffirm his guiding ethos: “the purpose is that we need mass mental health… to help masses of people process their emotions, process their trauma.”  

Doblin also responded directly to critiques regarding therapist misconduct and trial safety: “I do not believe those accusations will be borne out to be true in the independent review of the data and what Josh Hardman talked about in Psychedelic Alpha, which is a newsletter for people interested in the psychedelic business.” 

Given the groundbreaking nature of his work vis-a-vis these challenges, Doblin emphasized the importance of regulatory transparency and rigorous data standards, especially in light of recent criticisms. “Science is about welcoming your critics,” he said at the event. “It’s not about running away… you really have to be constantly educating. You have to educate the researchers, the FDA, the regulators, and the public.” 

On the Business of Psychedelics

These questions around the nuances of research and administration put the industry surrounding psychedelic-assisted therapy at a critical inflection point. While research increasingly affirms the efficacy of substances like MDMA and psilocybin in treating PTSD, depression, and anxiety, the path to medical approval and commercial integration has proven anything but smooth, as shown above.

Doblin noted that, while the U.S. regulatory path remains uncertain, other countries are already moving ahead, emphasizing that two days after the FDA’s advisory committee rejected his application, “the Dutch State Committee on MDMA came out with the exact opposite conclusion. They said efficacy is proven, safety is proven, and there’s an unmet medical need.”

That divergence speaks to broader debates about the role of government agencies in evaluating novel therapies, and the tension between traditional pharmaceutical models and the more holistic approaches favored by many in the psychedelic space.

MAPS itself is emblematic of that tension. Originally designed to be fully nonprofit-funded, MAPS later launched a public benefit corporation, Lykos Therapeutics, to commercialize MDMA-assisted therapy. But when Doblin failed to raise sufficient philanthropic funding, he turned to investors, resulting in a shift in governance and priorities. Reflecting after the event, Doblin shared, “It was deeply satisfying to see the growth in acceptance of psychedelics as a topic for discussion at HBS. It was also deeply sad for me since, when I spoke previously at HBS [in 2019], I was still anticipating that MAPS would receive all the funds we needed as donations so that the public benefit pharma company would be 100% owned by MAPS, and public benefit would be the guiding principle. Instead, I failed at raising all the funds from donors, and when we took in investors, everything changed for the worse.” 

Indeed, even as Lykos pursued a more traditional for-profit pharmaceutical approach, Doblin noted roadblocks. He cited a cost-effectiveness study by Lykos proving a total value of a full MDMA drug-plus-therapy protocol of $48,000 as the willingness to pay by insurance. Given this value, he lamented the FDA’s rejection of this more holistic approach to drug administration, saying “it’s not about what's best for patients; it’s about what’s best for the bottom line. The companies that are trying to develop drugs with therapy are about what’s best for patients, and so that’s the distinction. But I do think that the main point is that you do not need to trash the therapy because the value when you combine it with therapy is so high that you can get insurance companies to pay for it.” 

If Doblin’s ultimate goal is cultural change and destigmatization, it’s clear that the path forward remains through the private sector approach: building credibility through regulatory approval in more traditional pharmaceutical routes. As he noted, “there’s just an enormous amount of misinformation, and we need the science and the FDA to change attitudes, and you get a lot of earned media. So from a strategic point of view, science gets a lot of media, new discussion, new discoveries. So we need the science part, and that’s essential, but we also need the drug policy reform.” 

The Urgent Need: Mental Health, Loneliness, and Division

The conversation repeatedly returned to the larger societal context that makes the psychedelic renaissance so urgent. The mental health statistics alone paint a sobering picture:

• Suicide rates among young Americans (ages 10–24) have increased by 56% over the last decade.

• More than 60% of Americans regularly report feeling lonely.

• Emergency room visits for youth mental health crises surged by over 800% in some hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These figures are compounded by a political environment that has grown sharply polarized. The number of Americans living in “landslide counties” — where one political party wins by a margin of 20 points or more — has more than doubled from 27% in 1976 to 61% in 2016. Many Americans not only disagree with, but also actively distrust those on the other side of the political spectrum.

Doblin believes psychedelics can play a role in healing both individual and collective wounds. “The vision that animated me when I was 18,” he said at the event, “was that if people could go beyond their ego states and realize how interconnected we all are, that would be an antidote to racism, to dehumanizing others, to fear-based politics.” 

Citing the astronaut experience of viewing Earth from space — seeing no national borders, only one fragile planet — Doblin argued that psychedelics can offer a similar shift in consciousness. “We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technologies,” he said, paraphrasing E.O. Wilson. “We are emotionally and spiritually unprepared for the world we’ve created. Psychedelics can help us catch up.”

The Harvard Opportunity: A Platform for Legitimacy and Collaboration

One of the most striking aspects of Doblin’s visit was the institutional diversity of attendees: students and faculty from HBS, the Kennedy School, the Law School, the Divinity School, the Medical School, and the School of Public Health. The cross-campus interest reflects a growing recognition that psychedelics sit at the intersection of multiple disciplines: medicine, business, law, ethics, and spirituality.

Prof. Cohen riffed that the psychedelic space brings together “seven kinds of people you meet in heaven:” veterans, old-school hippies, regulators, religious leaders, entrepreneurs, pharma bros, and academics. “It’s a regulatory landscape unlike any other,” he said. “And it’s ripe for nuanced exploration.”

“Harvard can add a great deal of legitimacy to the discussion,” Doblin reflected post-event. “I’m especially looking forward to the HBS case about the tension between nonprofit MAPS and Lykos, the public benefit for-profit pharma company that MAPS started, but that then lost its way. Public benefit was cast aside, and return to investors became the primary goal, even over what was best for patients. HBS can develop a case that can instruct future students and others.” 

Doblin also highlighted Harvard’s deep historical ties to the psychedelic movement, from Richard Evans Schultes’ early ethnobotanical research, to Timothy Leary and Ram Dass’ controversial experiments, to William James’ writings on mystical experience under the influence of nitrous oxide in the 1880s. “Harvard has been at the center of this for over a century,” he noted.

Cohen reflected post-event that, while the Petrie-Flom Center at HLS has explored the legal and ethical dimensions of psychedelics through its POPLAR and PULSE programs, “we often touch on the business side... but so far there hasn’t been as much faculty-led work at HBS. I am hopeful that we are able to get more of our HBS colleagues’ and students’ insights in the years ahead.”

And there are leaders here who could continue to help lead this initiative, such as Prof. Tiona Zuzul, who published a landmark HBS case on the psychedelic pharmaceutical company Compass Pathways in 2024. There is also potential to expand the scope of student organizations, such as the Cannabis Business Association, to include psychedelics more prominently. 

Beyond the science, policy, and business considerations, Doblin, in reflecting post-event, passed on a more personal message — one that might resonate in a high-achieving, intellectually-rigorous environment like HBS:

“The message is that intellectual education is only one form of education. HBS and other Harvard students would benefit from education about their emotional, spiritual, and moral development, which psychedelics can facilitate when taken in supportive contexts.”

In other words, the promise of psychedelics is not just that they can treat illness, but also that they can foster wholeness for both individuals and communities more broadly.

Looking Ahead

Doblin’s visit was a moment of reflection and optimism about the future. For many attendees, it was a glimpse into a movement that is simultaneously ancient and futuristic, idealistic and grounded, personal and political.

Indeed, despite frustration with MAPS/Lykos’s regulatory setbacks, Doblin was particularly optimistic that, in our increasingly-polarized political and social landscape, psychedelics seem to have a uniquely-bipartisan appeal, fitting of their inherent ability to inspire human connection. As he put it, “One of the things that I’m most proud of is that, when you look around… psychedelics are one of the few things that are not involved in the culture wars. We have bipartisan support, and I’m anticipating that that’s going to continue. One of the examples of that is that I just got a message last week that the Department of Defense has just allocated $4.9 million to a study of MDMA assisted therapy for active duty soldiers with PTSD at Walter Reed.” And as recently as March 17th, it was announced that the DOD committed another $9.8 million to study psychedelics with active-duty troops. 

As regulatory, financial, and ethical questions loom, it’s abundantly clear that the psychedelic field will need bold, cross-disciplinary leadership. Harvard — and HBS in particular — is uniquely positioned to catalyze collaboration across its graduate schools, the public sector, nonprofit research institutions (such as MAPS), and the private sector to help forge the next chapter of the psychedelic movement. For the business community, the question is no longer whether psychedelics will shape the future of health, human flourishing, and social connection, but how they will do so and who will lead the charge in driving patient outcomes, ensuring public benefit, and ultimately shaping the way we exist together as a species in a rapidly-changing world.

Aaron Finder (MBA ’26) is originally from New York City. He graduated from Williams College with a degree in Economics and History, and studied Portuguese and Brazilian history at PUC Rio. Prior to HBS, Aaron worked in business development and marketing at beverage companies Anhesuer-Busch InBev and The Vita Coco Company.